Ewan and Jakobsen join forces in battle at back of scorching Tour de France stage

Tour de France 2023: Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) come over the line on stage 10
Tour de France 2023: Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) come over the line on stage 10 (Image credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix)

As the battle played out for the podium and overall standings up the front of the field on stage 10 of the Tour de France, there was another completely different battle playing out at the back. Sprinters Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny), Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) and their leadout riders may be rivals when they are lining up for a sprint, but on Tuesday they banded together with a combined purpose – making it through before the time cut.

It was no easy start after the rest day, with the mercury soaring above 30° Celsius even before the racing started and a just as hot GC joust right from the beginning of the 167km stage from Vulcania to Issoire. With even top ten GC riders put under pressure, it's no surprise that some of the sprinters fell away from the field early. 

Simone Giuliani
Australia Editor

Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.